Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, or Crash: XS in Europe, is the seventh installment in the Crash Bandicoot video game series and the first Crash Bandicoot game to be released on a handheld
console. The game's story centers on a plot to shrink the Earth by the main antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex through the use of a gigantic weapon named the Planetary Minimizer The protagonist of the story, Crash Bandicoot, must gather Crystals in order to power a device that will return Earth to its proper size, defeating Doctor Cortex and his minions along the way. The levels are based on Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot: Warped (but completely 2D).

North America Box art of game

Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure
is a platform game in which the player controls Crash Bandicoot, who
must gather 20 Crystals and reverse the shrinkage of the Earth at the
hands of Doctor Neo Cortex, the main antagonist of the story. Much of
the game takes place in a series of hubs, from which Crash can teleport
to various areas of the Earth. Initially, only the first of four hubs is
available for play. Each hub features five levels plus one boss level.
The goal in each level is to find and obtain the Crystal hidden in the
area. After completing all five levels in a hub, the boss level must be
completed, in which Crash must defeat the boss character guarding the
area. By defeating the boss, a new hub will be accessible for play. When
all 20 Crystals are collected and the Earth has been enlarged to its
proper size, the game is won. Crash starts the game with five lives.
Crash loses a life when he is struck by an enemy attack or suffers any
other type of damage. More lives can be earned by instructing Crash to
collect 100 "Wumpa Fruits" or break open a special crate to collect a
life. Crash can be shielded from enemy attack by collecting an Aku Aku
mask. Collecting three of these masks allows temporary invulnerability
from all minor dangers. Besides Crystals, Gems and Colored Gems can be
collected for 100% completion. Gems are awarded to the player if all of
the crates in a level are broken open or if a secret area is completed.
Colored Gems are found in special levels and lead to hidden areas.
Unlike in previous Crash titles however, there is no purple gem, ergo
only four colored gems are present in the game. "Relics" can be won by
re-entering a level where the Crystal has already been retrieved. To
obtain a Relic, the player must initiate the "Time Trial" mode and race
through a level in the per-designated time displayed before entering a
level. To begin a Time Trial run, the player must enter a level and
activate the floating stopwatch near the beginning of the level to
activate the timer; if the stopwatch is not touched, the level can be
played regularly. The player must then race through the level as quickly
as possible. Scattered throughout the level are yellow crates with the
numbers 1, 2 or 3 on them. When these crates are broken, the timer is
frozen for the number of seconds designated by the box. Sapphire, Gold
and Platinum Relics can be won depending on how low the player's final
time is.

In a mysterious
space station orbiting the Earth, Uka Uka is upset with Doctor Neo
Cortex for failing him once again, but Cortex promises a plan that will
bring the Earth's inhabitants down to size. Cortex then introduces his
relatively new Planetary Minimizer, which he immediately uses to shrink
the Earth down to the size of a grapefruit. The situation is brought to
Aku Aku's attention when Cortex taunts the now-microscopic people of
Earth. When Aku Aku informs Crash of the Earth's predicament, Coco
assumes that Cortex is using the Crystals to power his shrinking
machine, and requests that Crash find the same kind of Crystals in
various locations around the world, which she will use to build a device
that will reverse the effects of Cortex's Minimizer. After Crash fends
off Dingodile, Doctor N. Gin and Tiny Tiger, Cortex decides to deal with
Crash himself by firing the Planetary Minimizer at him. Unfortunately
for him, Crash tricks him into shrinking the colored Gems that stabilize
the Minimizer, causing it to malfunction. The unrestrained effects of
the Minimizer fuse Cortex and the previous bosses together, creating a
monster known as Mega-Mix, who chases Crash down the space station's
hallway in an attempt to kill him. Fortunately, Crash escapes back to
the Earth just in time for Coco to use the Crystals that he has gathered
to return the Earth back to normal. The Earth is returned to its
original size, while the space station outside Earth explodes with
Cortex and the others in it.